character name

[natane.livejournal.com]

i'm writing a female character living sometime in the 1800s (possibly about 1870), in britain... only it's going to be semi-historical fantasy. she's almost upper-class. ish.

i need a realistic name for her. nothing too boring, but nothing completely out-there either.

i like amelia and clara, but i think they sound a bit too cliche. i'm honestly blank on what to call her. i've looked at too many naming websites and everything seems the same.

her parents would like to see themselves as very proper and correct, so probably a first-middle-last kind of name. it'd be nice if her first name was something that could be abbreviated to a more playful or boyish nickname. not samantha, though.

Comments

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Giving a Victorian female character a boyish nickname is a bit cliche. I only mention that because you said that you wanted to avoid cliche. I think it boyish nicknames for girls were a bit more common in the 1920s.

If her parents think of themselves as proper and correct, they're not going to give her a name that's showy or unusual.

Some suggestions:

Elizabeth
Catherine
Charlotte
Caroline
Margaret
Helena
Eleanor
Alice
Victoria
Anne
Mary
Lilian
Julia
Jane
Florence

[natane.livejournal.com]

she won't be using the nickname for most of the story. it's not "her nickname" per say, it's something another character's going to start calling her.

yes, but it's hard for me to find out what would come across as a proper, slightly hoity-toity name that victorian parents would burden their daughter with, as opposed to the john smith of the day.

thanks for the list :) caroline is one i like.